The "Ulster" Question. 



531 



in Ulster that they would suffer because of their 

 religion under Home Rule, and, accordingly, 

 Irish Nationalists have always been willing to 

 agree to any guarantees against such a con- 

 tingency which would be within the bounds of 

 reason, and would not conflict with the principle 

 of national self-government in purely Irish 

 affairs. They are still willing to do so. They 

 receive, however, but small encouragement to 

 continue that policy. When, last month, it was 

 proposed by the representatives of the old Pro- 

 testant foundation of Trinity College, Dublin, 

 to prevent the Irish Parliament from making any 

 laws whatever in respect of that institution, and 

 when I at once, on behalf of the Irish Nationalist 

 Party, agreed, and the Government assented, 

 the concession was received with sneers and 

 jeers. It is evident from this one fact that it 

 is not persecution which is feared by the Orange 

 Party, but equality. 



ULSTER 



AND TAXATION. 



One further charge against the Irish Nationa- 

 list majority I should like to say a word or two 

 about, though it is the most ridiculous of all. 

 It is calmly alleged that " Ulster," meaning 

 thereby the north-east corner, is the richest, or 

 the only rich, part of Ireland, and that the 

 object of Irish Nationalists in bringing Ulster 

 under a Home Rule settlement is to tax its 

 prosperity out of existence. " Ulster's " 

 superior wealth is a figment of the imagination, 

 as anyone who knows that its business houses 

 and its banks, to mention nothing else, live not 

 only on the locality in which their headquarters 

 are situated, but on a great part of Ireland out- 

 side, can easily imagine. But suppose that 

 " Ulster " was in reality the wealthy spot it is 

 supposed to be, what a set of fools the Irish 

 Parliament and Government must be composed 

 of if they proceeded to destroy what would, on 

 the assumption mentioned, be the chief source 

 of their revenue ! 



THE THREAT OF CIVIL WAR. 



I do not desire to cast any aspersion on the 

 sincerity of the convictions of the mass of Ulster 

 Unionists. They have been brought up in an 

 unhappy environment, and no Irish Nationalist 

 can forget that it was amongst those very men 

 that the movement began for emancipation of 

 the Catholics and Parliamentary reform, which 

 ended in the insurrection of 1798 and its subse- 

 quent developments. The Irish Protestants of 

 that era who suffered imprisonment or death 

 for their nationalist opinions are amongst the 

 most sacred names in the political martyrology 

 of Ireland. Against their descendants Irish 

 Nationalists entertain no feeling of hate. They 

 only desire them to take their stand with the rest 

 of their fellow-countrymen in securing the in- 

 estimable boon of self-government for all. But 

 now, as at various times in the past, they are 

 misled and inflamed with anti-Irish and anti- 

 Catholic passion by a comparatively small num- 

 ber of their body, who are the descendants of 

 that dangerous faction, to recall Mr. Glad- 

 stone's words, whose whisperings brought about 

 the recall of Lord FitzWilliam in 1795, and thus 

 dashed the last great hope of a united Ireland. 

 This small faction is now engaged in similar 

 unholy work, and it is that faction which is now 

 seeking to affright the public mind of Great 

 Britain by threats of civil war as the result of 

 Home Rule. Nothing can be more ridiculous 

 than those threats, but nothing can be also more 

 wicked, for, while civil war cannot ensue, street 

 riots and boycotting of Catholics and Protestant 

 Nationalists may possibly, for a time, disfigure 

 the annals of Belfast, while the champions who 

 have incited them will take good care to keep 

 clear of the scene of action. For my own part, 

 I doubt whether, when the Home Rule Bill has 

 become law, even street riots and boycotting 

 will not have become things of the past. Self- 

 government and the liberty it implies are, after 

 all, in civilised countries the great solvents of 

 political difficulties. They once produced a 

 united Ireland. They will do so again. 



